DSU’s League of Legends

On Saturday the 4th, open tryouts for DSU’s first e-sports team were held in the spectrum lounge. This team of electronic athletes was formed under the supervision of the gaming club but is run by a separate set of officers all devoted to League of Legends. Potential contenders were of the most varied variety that could be expected from DSU. There were just as many out-of-state-students as in-state students, and a very wide variety of first to fourth year students who came to tryout in their free time. The official turnout was 40 people and every single one of them played at least two games of the three that were needed to grade the first tryout.

The personal skill level of the team members who were selected also varied greatly, but overall there is so much potential talent on campus that DSU will have an extremely competitive team for upcoming tournaments. The cutoff for most of the members was hard argued and resulted in more than two hours of debate for the fifteen available call back slots.

Student Justin Essenger stated, “Overall, I think the turnout was great and everyone that came seemed to have a fun time. Those I played with didn’t lack teamwork skills, but some maybe needed more individual practice in their roles.”

Student Devon Raabe added, “You know, I went in wondering if it was a scene for me to be in. It was nice to see that everyone there was friendly and helped each other out. It was shocking to see how well everyone ended up playing together. The biggest shock for me was how well everyone communicated with each other. I’d say overall it was a good experience and I hope for it to continue!”

Student Tyler Rau also stated, “Overall, I enjoyed it, most of the games were fun and entertaining even if some were loses! I would’ve liked if there was more of a pairing with people of about the same rank, but just getting 5 people in a room together to play a game was awesome!”

In response questions, the leadership of the collegiate team stated “individual skill was weeded out in the first tryout, in the second level we were weeding out teamwork and laning skill by pitting players against each other.”

The second round of tryouts were held on Thursday, October 9th with 20 players going head to head in custom games. These games were very competitive in nature as the winners would knock out the losers from any chance of being on the collegiate team. The games and player discussion ran on throughout the night and finally two teams were decided upon.

The first string DSU collegiate team:

AJ De Groot – Support

Collin Meaney – Attack Damage Carry

Sam Coome – Mid lane

Alexander Stulken – Jungler

Top lane is a toss-up between Aaron Curry, Mauna, Ian Nelson, Devon Raabe, and Tyler Rau (the bottom finishers go to the second team.)

The second string DSU collegiate team:

Sam Poppe – Support

Jesse Robertson – Attack Damage Carry

Jesse Plaetz – Mid lane.

Justin Essegner – Jungler

Top lane for team two will be the bottom finishers from team one.

The first game will be Saturday, October 18th at 2pm. The location, as of now, is undetermined, but in the future there will be a place for spectators to watch the team compete in tournament play.